Donagh O'Casey

Donagh O'Casey (1903-) was an Irish Republican Army guerrilla. O'Casey was one of the followers of Eamon de Valera to take up arms against the Irish Free State government during the Irish Civil War, and O'Casey and several other IRA guerrillas were sent to ambush Free State leader Michael Collins as he drove through Beal na Blath (Bealnabla), County Cork on 22 August 1922. The IRA guerrillas blocked the road with carts and took up positions atop a cliff overlooking the road, and O'Casey fired a bolt-action rifle at Collins' vehicle as it halted in front of the roadblock. O'Casey fired the fatal shot that struck Collins in the head, killing him; Collins was the only fatality of the ambush.